


Boil for Several Years, Then Steep

by polandspringz



Series: Craving Stagnation, But The World Turns [2]
Category: gen:LOCK (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, It's not really romance but just subtle pining I guess, Platonic Relationships, old people romance, read it however way you wish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26922151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polandspringz/pseuds/polandspringz
Summary: Colonel Marin is the only thing keeping the Polity from falling apart. She knows this but doesn't like to think about it, not because she doesn't want to feel prideful, but because thoughts like that only lead to stress and she desperately can't lose hope. But, when she sees idiots likeDr. Weller, she sometimes debates letting the Union win.It would help her sanity at least.
Relationships: Fatima Jha/Rufus Weller, Julian Chase & Yasamin "Yaz" Madrani, Raquel Marin & Julian Chase, Raquel Marin & Yasamin "Yaz" Madrani, Rufus Weller & Raquel Marin, Rufus Weller & Yasamin "Yaz" Madrani, Rufus Weller/Raquel Marin
Series: Craving Stagnation, But The World Turns [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964368
Kudos: 4





	Boil for Several Years, Then Steep

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm super excited to finally publish this fic, because, like my last story for gen:LOCK, this is one of the stories I started over a year ago and never finished! Back when I first thought of this idea, I was very into exploring the relationship between the adults in the show, but coming back to it was difficult since it had been so long since I had worked with these characters. This fic plays somewhat off of my other gen:LOCK fic, "At Least For Now", but you don't need to necessarily read it beforehand to read this. (There are some small references to it with Yasamin and the Colonel, which was written before we knew Yaz's backstory, so if you want to know more, go back and read that story!)

She couldn’t deal with this. She had notifications and screens blowing up left and right as ABLE spammed her with new reports on the Union’s effort to take the Ether, the Vanguard’s struggle to intervene with the forces pushing rather violently against the line that was falling further and further west with each battle, and most concerning-

“Doctor focus! Prepare your team for immediate evacuation!”

“But I just put the kettle on!”

“This isn’t a joke! We have intelligence, the Union is stepping up their efforts to find you!

Raquel had prioritized one report over all the others. It was the reason she had started this call with such franticness in the first place. While the Ether was more important to the people, making sure Dr. Weller was safe was more important to the _war._ And the number of red dots she saw coming up from the south in the Pacific was extremely alarming.

“Why does this sound familiar? Oh, right! This is exactly what I _warned would happen if you militarized my program!”_ She tried to remain calm even as the Doctor yelled exasperatedly at her. Three archived reports flashed on her screen, sent her way in order to emphasize his point. These weren’t the only three, she knew that. They had done much more than infiltrate or steal data, and she feared what other reports would be on her desk within the next hour if they didn’t move fast.

“We’re not doing this again... They’re already on the hunt, you are in danger!”

She had already sent several hundred of her men his way. Raquel didn’t like it, but she had to risk losing their hold on the line if it meant ensuring the safety of Dr. Weller. All of his scientists could go, by what these reports had shown, most of them weren’t trustworthy anyway. But he had all the notes, all of the understanding of gen:LOCK inside of him. She couldn’t let his brain fall into the Union’s hands. Not now.

“Then we should collect our new recruits! _All four of them,_ as swiftly as possible!”

Recruits. She stared at the _children_ on her screen. The party animal disguised as an intelligence officer, the baby-faced girl who had hacked her way into a job for the Polity, and the cook who couldn’t be trusted to put his anger to good use in a fight. Sure, there was the _one_ competent ranger from her own jurisdiction, but she knew Rufus, and he wouldn’t let her get one without the others.

She thought of the Union pilot she had granted asylum to and sent to the Doctor a few years back. She thought of _Chase,_ locked in a tank inside the lab. The lab which was going to be under fire within the next three hours.

“No way! Pack your things, get ready to move!”

“I’m not going anywhere. Not until you say _yes.”_

She tried to resist the urge to just tell her men to kill him instead.

When he had first shown her the plans for gen:LOCK, none of it involved looking into battle experience, and he intended to keep this completely medical, all research focused on saving lives and minds that were trapped inside their own bodies, and eventually entering the mainstream. But then they had located Chase as one of the recruits and everything in New York happened and it all had spiralled so fast and she had given them the order to retrieve him and-

“Are you holding yourself hostage?” Her voice screeched as she tightened the grip on her desk, leaning closer into the call as the static increased. He was an idiot, a damn idiot- but he….

“...Maybe? Yes? Yes! I think I am!”

She could see the same thing happening now. The number of jets and ships that carried who knew how many soldiers and drones and mechs were speeding up towards the west coast. She knew telling him all of this would do no good. He would load up all of his equipment and Chase and Madrani on the ship, there was no doubt about that, but she knew she would receive word that he had left himself to the Union’s clutches out of spite. She had known this man for years, and gen:LOCK was not the first thing they had butted heads over.

She loosened her grip, and sat back in her chair, covering her eyes with one hand. ABLE dimmed the lights for her, and got rid of some of the screens, leaving only the call on.

She didn’t want this to be the last.

“...Fine, _yes_. Just prepare to relocate to the Anvil! I’ll arrange to have your new recruits transferred there.”

“Fabulous put the tea on and we will be there soon!” She heard the call end, but not before there was the tell-tale sign of Rufus scrambling out of his chair, a word cut off as he went to signal to someone about what to do. Madrani, most likely. Raquel knew she didn’t need to worry anymore. The Union didn’t know _where_ the Doctor was, they had moved the base multiple times since the previous incidents, only that he was somewhere _over there._ She knew the Polity’s Naval forces would be able to hold them off, that they wouldn’t have to fight a two front war so soon. She knew that there wasn’t any real risk but-

He was going to give her a stroke, either way.

* * *

“How is it going with the recruits?” She said, phasing into his lab. He was seated in front of many of the monitors they had installed so he could observe their training activities. On screen, the purple and red Holons were sparring while her Striders kept a vigilant watch.

“They’re improving at a remarkable pace.” He didn’t turn to her, kept his eyes on the displays as he brought a hand up to stroke his chin.

“As remarkable as Chase?”

“Haha, not quite that fast, Colonel, but they are showing prowess earlier on than I anticipated. We can probably deploy all of them within a few days.”

“That’s good to hear. We’ve had some worrying reports about the Union encroaching from the sea, moving towards Georgia and Louisiana. Do you think three days would suffice?”

“I’m sure Yasamin and Chase would have no objections to whipping everyone into shape a bit more. Besides, you can tell your Striders to increase training too, so long as the increase is in productivity and not _time.”_

“How long exactly can they be in there?”

“If they don’t attempt overclocking or try out any of the mods, they have an hour and a half until uptime. However, Yasamin and Chase are the most prone to overclocking as they’re more familiar with how to use it, and that would leave all our new recruits solo within forty minutes.”

“I see,” was all the Colonel chose to say. Instead she folded her arms behind her back and watched the fight play out on the screen. Dr. Weller still had not turned to face her, but she could see the dark circles under his eyes. She had reports from ABLE that he had not checked into his room for the past several nights, “How are you feeling?”

“Me? Why, Colonel, I’m perfectly fine. In fact, once this is done, I was going to put the kettle on, would you like to join me?”

A part of her wished she could, but her brain was already running through the number of responsibilities she had that day. She sighed, but it came out more annoyed than saddened, and she instantly regretted it, but her mouth kept going, “Really? Do you think this is the time for that?”

“I know how stressed you are, it might do you good to try some of the tea I’ve been brewing. Yasamin has taught me a lot, you might be surprised by the number of new blends I can procure!”

She pressed her lips into a thin line, and tightened her posture with her arms behind her. Her hologram started to dissipate, “I want them ready before three days time, Doctor. We don’t have the time to spare, you know this.”

If he had anything more to say, she never heard it. For she was soon blinking back into her office, and the Doctor was gone.

* * *

ABLE had reports that the Doctor had been registered as going into his room at night, but the security footage showed otherwise. While the card that was being read on the scanner was Dr. Weller's, the security often showed it was in the hand of one of his recruits: The Yellow Holon pilot, who Raquel herself had approved of to be released from the MESA. Every few nights, the security footage of the hallways between the ESU and the dorms for the gen:LOCK team showed the same thing: Madrani would leave their room around the two in the morning, make her way to the ESU and then come back dragging, carrying, or heaving a sleeping Doctor to his room at the end of the hall.

At first, Raquel was alarmed by these videos, but when she called Madrani down to interrogate- er, to _question_ her- she quickly learned that this had been a routine back at the old lab.

“He doesn’t sleep?” Raquel asked, folding her hands on the desk.

“He will tell you that,” Chase said from the side in his hologram, insisting on accompanying Madrani the moment she had been called down. It was a surprise Rufus wasn’t here, really. Raquel expected him to be phasing in or breaking down the literal door the moment it had been broadcast that she had wanted to pester one of his pilots, “But he is human. He passes out eventually.”

“He… will stay up if something is bothering him. A new idea or something that needs to be improved. It doesn’t matter what it is, but he won’t sleep until he absolutely has to, and that’s why I go down each night.”

Raquel didn’t relent, “So why are you the one dragging him back to bed? If he passes out, let him sleep in his lab for all I care. What are you doing in his room, Madrani?”

She narrowed her eyes, watched the woman’s face flash in surprise and horror. Raquel was playing dirty, she didn’t think the woman was up to anything, she had proved her time with the Union was of the past, and she was safe under the Polity, and especially Rufus’ protection. But, procedures were procedures, and a little testing never did any harm

Chase stepped forward, rage evident on his face, “Colonel, with all due respect-”

“Chase, stand down,” Raquel looked over at Madrani, “Why are you going in his room at night?”

The woman took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Chase did not move away, he kept his arm out in front of her protectively, even though his hologram could be slipped through easily and offered no real guard.

“There was an incident at the ESU with some Union spies. You must know, we had a _conversation_ about it,” She said, “I wasn’t on the base that time and… I know he can protect himself, he can think his way out of any situation or threat but, when he sleeps, when he finally shuts down, he is defenseless. I am worried about what would happen if I was not there to protect him.”

Her head was bowed as she spoke, but at the last second, she flicked them up to meet the Colonel’s and something was ablaze in those brown orbs.

_“Surely you understand?”_

Raquel pinned her hands to the desk and kept her gaze hard. She slowly nodded. She did remember that conversation, that confession she had come to give on the ship _after_ she learned that Madrani had been in the earshot of the call that she had shouted all her doubts about her in. Having to tell Weller’s _daughter_ (Yasamin may not have seen the paperwork, but Raquel had it stuffed in her drawer from years ago), having to lie and tell her that they hadn’t come close to taking her father away and torturing him for his life’s work- it was painful- and all of it was coming back to her now at full force. She may not have had any doubt about Madrani’s intentions, but it was wrong to play with her like that.

“Yes, forgive me, I was just curious. You are dismissed.”

Yasamin saluted and marched out of the room, but Raquel could see her hand shaking. She had chosen to walk here and speak in person, which Raquel could respect. As the doors opened, there was a noise outside and she could see the young woman react startled before she slipped outside. Chase, who had a better view of the door, widened his eyes before he warped away. A minute passed, and then another, and Raquel almost thought nothing would happen, but then the door opened.

Rufus came storming in. One wouldn’t know it by how he carried himself, hands in pockets, back straight, his head high as he smiled, but Raquel could feel his anger radiating off and swirling around the room.

“Vetting my recruits, eh? What did you need Madrani for, Colonel?”

“I was wondering when you would show up. Thought you would have broken ABLE to get inside since he put the shield up after Chase warped in here.”

“Ah, yes, well, I may have tormented your android just a bit. But, Colonel, I would like to ask you, for future reference, _leave my kids alone.”_

_“Your kids?_ This is war, Weller. You cannot grow attached like this. You cannot let _them_ get attached like this.”

He glared at her, and his hands stuffed deeper inside the pocket on the front of his brown jacket.

“Perhaps we would be doing a little bit better if you gave a damn about what was happening out there.”

She jumped up and slammed her desk.

“Don’t you ever suggest a thing like that again! Get out.”

“With pleasure.”

Fifteen minutes later, Raquel would step out of her office and find the body of her android completely mangled in the hall. Security cameras would show that while Dr. Weller had merely messed around with ABLE while she was interrogating Madrani, it was after they had spoken and he had talked with Madrani that he came back up and ripped it to shreds. He had stood over the demolished form with his own robot, smiling at the camera before walking off.

She would have her engineers fix it. She wouldn’t be bothering Rufus for favors anytime soon.

* * *

She debated with herself as the elevator closed and began to carry her down to the third floor. She didn’t think it was possible, what with his project being the leading technology on the warfront now, but he had managed to avoid her for exactly two weeks now. She couldn’t even find his hologram on the base or in any of logs, and while she knew he had just hacked it so he was cloaked across all systems, she was just all but convinced that another Sinclair had shown up and dragged him away.

The only thing keeping her sane was that she hadn’t had any reports on her desk of Madrani going apeshit on some guards, so she knew that at the very least, the Doctor must be safe. Even if there had been no commotion going on, and Madrani and Chase appeared to be as calm as ever if not avoidant of her, the lack of reports could be chocked up to the fact that ABLE was not working properly _still._

Had her engineers been able to construct him back together? Of course, ABLE was back to its polished, flawless military grade self within a few hours. However, it was the first hour back on the job that Colonel had to send it back for its frequent glitches like the screeching sing-song voice and distorted documents that were corrupting her own displays. This may have been her wake up call that connecting all of her data and computerized enhancements with her robot secretary wasn’t the best idea when it came to security, but it was also giving her a massive headache. She didn’t have the strength to march downstairs with ABLE’s malfunctioning form thrown over her shoulder, so she stumbled downstairs herself to confront him.

The elevator opened, and she forced herself to straighten. Not only would she never let the years of war show on her face to her men, she would never show any weakness in front of the Doctor.

She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing the stress he had caused her.

She strode confidently passed the bulletproof windows, not even sparing a glance to see if anyone inside had noticed her. If he did see her and went scampering off to hide again, or if he was simply not here at all, she would go back to her office, sit and wait for her engineers to find a solution, and try not to pass out again when the contacts in her eyes began to flash and blaze colors randomly-

“Ah, Colonel! Not looking as sharp as usual?”

Rufus was sitting in his desk chair, swiveled around to smile at her as he kept one arm on the desk. He looked so… casual, like he hadn’t even been trying to hide. She felt her blood pressure spike.

“I figured I would find you here since your recruits are away,” She brushed past his fake niceties. She briskly moved inside the lab, walking past him and the colorful screens showing the children play-fighting with the Striders to stand in a darker spot. She didn’t want anything unnecessary to set her off, but the ESU was already more brightly lit than the rest of the Anvil, and she didn’t have ABLE here to lower the lights for her, and she wasn’t pulling up her screens for the risk of _that._

“Ah, so you needed me for something?” He spun back around to his desk where he began fiddling with something and a screwdriver.

It was official, she despised him.

“Needed something? You’ve been missing all meetings, updates, and I can hardly find you on the base! If I didn’t know you any better, I would have thought you had gone rogue!” She shouted exasperatedly.

“Now, Colonel,” his voice teased, playful and light hearted. She wanted to rip out his tongue and then kick him in the throat. She could see the anger in his gaze, the distrust evident even amongst his coy and flippant hand gestures and tone, “I have been right here all along. You know I never sleep!”

_That was a lie, they both, and too many people, knew._

“And besides, I _have_ sent reports. I remember writing them out in length, as you requested, on the performance of all of my kids. Has ABLE not been giving them to you? Faulty piece of junk that thing is, really. You should look into having me build something for you.”

_That was it._

“Weller, you have not sent anything for two weeks, have been hidden from scanners for two weeks, and have seemingly dropped off the Anvil for two weeks! I have not seen any reports because you haven’t sent any reports!”

“I have sent reports, and if you had read them you would’ve known that my time was occupied by some issues involving one of my recruits-”

“Weller, cut the bullshit! I know you broke ABLE or bugged it after my engineers fixed it to fuck with me just because I called Madrani down to investigate why she was behaving suspiciously around the base!”

He jumped to his feet, “I haven’t done anything of the sort! And frankly, I don’t appreciate you coming down here and yelling about my recruits like this when they are right there!” He jabbed his finger towards the sleeping forms in the pods.

“They can’t even hear us! We aren’t emitting a broadcast right now!”

“They could wake up at any second and see this display! They already are struggling, I don’t want to agitate them more when they see the _Colonel_ throwing such a temper tantrum-”

“Dr. Weller, I will not allow you to shift the blame here and insult me as such! I just want to know what you have been doing, why you have been avoiding me, and if anyone had a tantrum it was you when you demolished ABLE! I just want my bot fixed and a report on my desk about these past two weeks in the next half hour-”

Suddenly Rufus swept his hand wildly back, and Raquel only had a second to jump back when the blue screen illuminated in front of her.

“You want your reports? Fine, here they are! Take them and go!”

“Wait, Weller, stop-”

She saw the documents disappear from his screen all too fast before she felt her nerves panicking as the digital screen prepared to launch in her vision. She squeezed her eyes tight, hoping she could delay the onslaught of color, but soon she could hear buzzing, and she was blinking away the static but she only became more overwhelmed by everything. Pop-ups and reports from the past few days that she had tried to mute were suddenly everywhere as any report coming from the Doctor was set to _top-priority_ and overrode all of her settings. With a shrill, uncharacteristic yelp, she stumbled backwards, and fell onto the floor.

“Raquel!”

She never liked these contacts when they were announced. She had never needed glasses, but when she got promoted the brigadiers and generals had gifted them to her and called them “requirements”. They were touted for saving time, allowing her to view confidential things without the normal displays while she was out and away from her desk. The little devices they had stuffed into her ears too were a gift for letting her listen to any private messages that needed to be sent out, any new alerts that were too sensitive for the Union to intercept through any normal channels. It was all meant to make things easier.

Raquel hated them.

* * *

She woke up in her quarters, a place she often visited, but from this spot, it appeared unfamiliar. It wasn’t that she hadn’t slept in her bed before, but since New York and losing Chase and _losing Chase again_ to holding the line and dealing with cyber attacks, she hadn’t had much time to wake up and savor it.

The blue wall across from her housed a small painting of a pink rose mallow she had done many years ago, back before this whole mess. It was encased in a brown wooden frame with smooth glass overtop of it. It was the only thing on that wall.

She sat up, she heard someone cough beside her.

“It was discovered that some… nanotech had gotten inside of ABLE. One of your engineers, the new one transferred from the base in Washington. He’s been detained.”

She didn’t need to look at the face to recognize the voice. Instead, she tried to ignore the fact that she was dressed lighter, her jacket folded neatly on her dresser, her shoes placed by the door. She set her hands in her lap and sighed, shutting her eyes.

“How many people witnessed me being incompetent?”

He laughed lightly at that, “If you mean how many people assisted in getting you up here and well rested for the first time in years, you can thank ABLE and I. I fixed him quickly, disarming the tech that had been embedded inside him, and we both brought you upstairs. ABLE went through protocol of helping you once you were incapacitated.”

She focused her breathing, and decided to wait a bit longer before looking at the painting again.

“Who summoned ABLE? Surely you didn’t leave me on the floor of your lab.”

“Alright, so that was Madrani, yes. I called her back from training earlier to assist me. She took Caliban and helped restrain ABLE to bring him down to us. So, three people.”  
  


“Four.” She corrected.

“What?”

“Four. You, Madrani, ABLE, and _Caliban,”_ she smiled, and looked at him. He looked mighty surprised, but more than that, he looked exhausted. He sighed, and grinned, leaning forward while one hand pushed up his glasses.

“I should’ve known I couldn’t hide it from you.”

“Well, you needed to be clear in your reports-”

“Not even Fatima or Holcroft knows.” He confessed, and Raquel’s voice stuttered to a halt at the mention of their names. It had been many years since they had talked about those two, even if names did come up in her messages about progress and what more funding was needed and being used for.

“I see. Well, how long have I been out?”  
  


“Only a few hours. You should get more rest Colonel, it’s not good for you.”

“I could say the same to you,” she glanced back down at the bedsheets, “Were you aware that my conversation with Madrani was about her dragging you back to bed?”

“So _she’s_ the one who’s been doing that.”

“You didn’t know?”

“Oh, I had a feeling. There were a few instances back at the lab where I would wake up and find her passed out somewhere nearby, having been too exhausted or worried to go sleep in her own room. I don’t like seeing her on the floor, so when I get up, I either have Caliban carry her back to her room or I’ll tuck her in myself. Even after all this time, she’s still afraid of-”

“It’s a possibility, you can’t ignore that, Weller.”

She watched him sink back into his chair and shut his eyes, the warm glow of the light overhead illuminating his face.

“I am aware, but, that’s why you brought me out here, right? To keep them from trying to find me?”

Raquel hesitated a moment, and then shoved the blankets off, getting up to adorn her jacket once more. As she slipped into the sleeves and closed up the front, she tried to quiet her shaking hands.

“Six months until they reached you out there. By bringing you here, I might have just shortened the time.”

He didn’t respond, and Raquel kept moving. She went through the motions of putting her shoes back on, went into her bathroom to freshen up, make sure she didn’t look like a complete disaster before she went to do some more updates with ABLE now that he was supposedly functioning again. She tried to pull up one display screen as a test, and was surprised when nothing appeared, but then noticed the case by the sink.  
  


“You took them out?” She popped her head back into the room, Rufus’ head jerked up.

“Your contacts? They were bothering you, and they were damaged. Even though it was ABLE’s body that was infected, you had to receive some of the damages. Those are the ones I use, they have a higher defense against those sorts of things. Besides, they’re more comfy.”

She frowned at him, “I am not wearing glasses. Where are my old ones?”

“Over here,” he fished a small capsule box out and waved it, letting Raquel walk all the way over before he deposited it gently in her open, rough hand.

A moment passed where neither one of them moved, the brush of skin having made them pensive.

“I am… sorry I acted childish and insubordinate. I did not realize you were in pain.”

“It’s fine. Your personality matches the children you watch over. Besides, it would be worrying if you were suddenly some stone cold scientist.”

“My charm is in my wit!”

“Your charm is in your understanding. I have a right to be concerned about my men and the right to interrogate those I think pose a threat to them. Although, I was wrong about Madrani.”

Weller quirked one eyebrow at her. She relented, and continued as she popped both contacts in.

“And MacCloud, Iida, and Romanyszyn. But not Sinclair.”

“Yes, none of us could have seen that coming,” he clapped his hands together and waited until she was done, “Now, if you are good, I will be taking my leave- woah, Colonel.”

As Rufus made to exit, Raquel swiftly slammed down the contacts case and wrestled him so she was holding him above her head for a moment, before she dropped him down into her arms. After a moment, she settled on a fireman’s carry.

“You are not going to the lab. I just checked your health readings. You are sick. I am taking you to your room.”

“Ah, but I have to file a new report, no?”

“Forget the reports, I’ll make Madrani guard you if I have to. She will be willing and you won’t be able to dismantle her to break out.”

“Is this house arrest?” He shouted and squirmed as they exited into one of the main halls. He couldn’t see it, but Raquel’s schooled face was betrayed by the slightest switching of her lips. She had to admit, she was amused.

“Consider this your punishment for telling me off earlier. Be lucky this is only for a day and not a week.”

“You couldn’t afford a week without me.”

“I know! We can’t even afford a day, but I am making an exception.”

Once she was downstairs and into his room with the keycard, she dropped him and he flopped down unceremoniously onto the bed as she made her way towards the kitchen area where she grabbed a black pot and some tea.

“Oh, are you putting the kettle on?” His laughter was echoing across the room as she turned a few dials and let it heat up. She walked back towards him, letting a smile adorn her face as she grabbed the blankets and began to tuck him in.

“No, I’m holding you hostage. Now, _rest.”_

* * *

The sun was harsh and glinted off the golden bars on the casket, burning into Raquel’s eyes. Her stare was hardened as she stood at the top of the hill, the red dirt of the canyon dusting above the ground and creating a mist as those left standing mourned at the sidelines. They were recuperating, just barely back together a day after the Union’s attack. It had rained all night after the hammer took out the Union’s behemoth, drowning the bodies of the fallen and saturated their broken machines. Now, the sun was back and it was boring down on them, drying out the earth as it reminded them they had to stand tall.

_She had to stand tall._ Everyone else at the Anvil was still reeling. She could see it in their disheartened faces, their averted eyes. The nanotech had been disabled in time, but not before swallowing up and chewing on the bodies of those already lost. Raquel had seen each of the bodies in the morgue, had seen what had been done to them. This was the last casket.

It was also the hardest.

Her men were almost to the top of the hill now, where the last body would be placed. They had lost many in their fight against the Union, and usually there were more beautiful, secure places for families to mourn their children until they joined them and the cycle began anew. However, right now there was no time and no safety in sending the fallen home, and so Raquel had prepared one of the lower cliffs of the canyon, surrounded by sturdy sandstone and rock, to be reserved for the bodies. Simple tombstones marked each one, and Raquel wished she could provide something more besides making them just another name and a number in their death count- _and she would. Another wall would be memorialized with the names of those lost yesterday-_ but the friends of the fallen did more than enough by decorating each one with flowers and colors that they knew the deceased would love.

Now came her turn.

She took a deep breath and unfolded her arms from behind her back, striding forward towards the pallbearers. It was unprofessional of her to do this, but there was no one left who understood.

No one left to understand what Dr. Weller would have wanted.

The pallbearers stopped when she approached, and one stepped back as she motioned. Slipping into their place, she whispered to the rest of them, and carefully, they all hoisted the casket up onto their shoulders, and waited.

She took the first step forward.

They reached the empty grave. The bugles were screeching alongside the black birds that blotted out the white sky. Their wings shadowed the sun for just a moment, but Raquel still felt the rays scorching her.

They lowered the casket, and the funeral was over.

There was no one to accept the folded flag. The ones who deserved it had been forced to flee. Raquel took it. When the ceremony was dismissed, Raquel watched as her soldiers covered the freshly smoothed dirt with more trinkets and offerings to those who had passed. Dr. Weller’s grave remained empty. Very few people had been close to him besides his kids. Only the few striders who worked with the gen:LOCK team stood in front of the grave, unsure of whether they should set down the few things they had brought. Miranda held a candle. Leon held a simple arrangement of flowers. Jodie’s hands were empty.

Eventually, everyone cleared out, and turned in for the night. Tomorrow there would be more fighting. Raquel stayed out by the grave for a little bit longer, watching the sun disappear behind the base’s tower and eventually behind the cliffs. Blue night began to stain the sky as the horizon burned out the rest of its orange. The candles were still bright. Raquel was about to leave when she heard the ground crunching beneath someone’s feet.

A figure came up over the hill, head bowed. Eventually, the silhouette gave shape as Raquel’s eyes adjusted in the low light. Migas passed by her wordlessly and knelt down behind her, in front of Dr. Weller’s grave.

He laid a golden flower down so it’s petals were flush against the stone.

Raquel eyed it with scrutiny.

_“Una caléndula?”_

_“El cempasúchil. Es una flor para el Día de los Muertos.”_

Migas stood up, and with a heavy step, turned his body around to face her with an empty expression. Now, without his shadow distorting it, she could see the many yellow petals bursting from the tiny flower.

“I am sorry you missed the ceremony.”

“It’s fine. I did what had to be done.”

She narrowed her eyes as he shrugged.

“So, _it_ is done?”

“Yes. I was late getting back because I stopped somewhere to get the flowers.”

She scoffed, “He doesn’t need them.”

Migas smiled as Raquel glared towards the horizon, and shrugged, “He’s a dead man now. All dead men deserve flowers.”

“Spare me any if I pass early,” she scowled.

“Are you kidding me? If you die, then we’re definitely toast. Besides, we still have that extra Holon and if the Union got in here-”

“Migas,” she hissed, “Speaking of Holons, we need to re-establish communication with gen:LOCK one. _Get on it.”_

“Alright, alright,” He casually put his hands behind his head as he started to walk past and down the hill again, “But, if we ever need to get Sinclair’s operational for some reason…”

He paused and gave her a knowing grin over his shoulder.

“ _Rose mallow_ was what I was told to say.”

She felt as though she had been knocked back by a gust of wind. As if the air had carried _his_ touch all the way across the land to shove her back with that one line. She could practically see _his_ smirk in Migas’ as she stared at him in shock.

“That’s what _I’ll_ bring to your grave,” Migas finished, and then disappeared below the hill.

Raquel stood for another minute, reeling from his statement, before she slowly smiled to herself.

_He_ was an idiot, and Migas was right. _He_ was a dead man.

If she ever saw him herself in person again, she would make sure to actually stuff him inside the grave for insinuating that she would die before him.

* * *

Dr. Jha’s laughter slowed to a stop as she looked at Raquel with a glint in her eye.

“So, you had an extra Holon.”

Raquel’s hologram stiffened.

It had only been a few minutes since the Battle of Chicago had stopped. Team gen:LOCK had defeated Nemesis, _for now,_ and while Chase and the rest of the recruits discussed what they planned to do next, Raquel had been chatting with Dr. Jha about gen:LOCK, and more specifically Weller, until the conversation turned towards dealing with Leon, who was now comatose.

“Yes. One of the initial recruits was a Union spy. We do not know if he was simply incompatible, or if the _real_ recruit is still out there somewhere. Weller originally made enough Holons for all the planned recruits. Leon was never supposed to pilot it.”

“But, you were desperate, right? I understand. It was a blessing in disguise, and I promise, we will do everything to take care of Leon at RTASA. With Cammie’s help, we might find a way to get rid of the aging-out aspect of gen:LOCK. Maybe even uptime.”

“I’m sure Weller would have loved to see that happen. He wanted his technology to help people. I cannot imagine what Chase must be feeling right now, but I will admit I am more worried about Leon. But, he insisted on taking the risk.”

“It was necessary. It seems Chase and the others needed the extra help after all. I have just one question for you though.”

Raquel nodded for her to continue.

“Cammie said that the report showed that Rufus had fired an EMP into the ESU lab at the Anvil. That should have fried any of the stationary pods for uploading. How did you repair them?”

Raquel replied calmly, “We didn’t. We had an extra set on one of the transport ships, like the one the team used to escape. We got lucky.”

“I see. And Rufus taught you how to upload people with the technology?”

Raquel internally berated herself for how long she hesitated at that question, although it was only a second, the rational part of her brain reasoned, “One of our engineers was trained in maintenance of all the Holons. We got lucky that the gen:LOCK technology is very much user-friendly, and he was able to figure out how to get the system working.”

“That is luck, although Rufus was always planning to make the things he created accessible to the public, like you said. I suppose that is also why it was so easy for the Union to replicate.”

Dr. Jha looked towards the fallen shell of Nemesis.

“I will admit, I still am unfamiliar in how most of the technology works. I have seen some of it with my work on the armor upgrades with Cammie, but I still have not seen all Rufus had created.”

“But, you were one of the key people on the project in the beginning? I thought he would have shown you how it worked?”

“No, I’m afraid that Rufus was always moving too quickly, Holcroft and I could barely keep up with him. That’s… part of the reason why I left.”

The _him_ was unspoken.

“I have to say, I am happy to see his work has come so far. He was brilliant, but too brilliant for his own good. I am glad that he was not alone near the end,” she smiled at Raquel, making the woman’s hologram taking a step back, “And I hope that someday, if they choose to stay at RTASA, I might get to understand why he was so determined to make gen:LOCK a reality.”

“It wasn’t for our war, that’s for sure.”

“It was never for war. It will probably take the war’s end for another mind like his to emerge into the limelight again.”

_Or for a mind like his to come out of **hiding,**_ Raquel mused.

Their conversation got cut off as the team walked up to them. Chase spoke on behalf of everyone that they would be going to RTASA, and while Raquel guessed as much, she still was saddened to see them all leave the Anvil. But, this was war, and there would be undoubtedly more moments she would hear from them, especially on the battlefield.

Dr. Jha’s hologram disappeared as she returned to RTASA. Raquel herself was quick to phase out of there after Chase bid her farewell, however,she found herself mixing in a few hundred feet away, watching as the team safely made their way into the ship and flew away.

Then, she returned back home.

She mixed back into her room, something that had been doing a lot more since the Battle of the Anvil. She needed more privacy, more time to herself. She had blocked ABLE from visiting, and found herself taking out the computerized contacts more often to give her eyes a break. She entered the threshold of her room and walked to the bathroom, passing by the framed, folded flag from the funeral ceremony a week ago.

_Perhaps I should have that delivered to Madrani or Chase,_ she thought as she looked in the mirror and removed the contacts. Anyone in the team deserved it, but those two were the closest to the definition of “next of kin”. Thinking more on it, perhaps Dr. Jha was the one who deserved it the most. Even though they were divorced, she obviously still cared about Weller.

Raquel closed the contacts case, removed her earpieces, and put on a pair of old glasses she had only recently begun to wear again. She walked back into her bedroom, passing by the painting of the flower on the blue wall. Her hand skidded along a vase on a table underneath it- a relatively new addition to her room’s decor- and picked up the matching rose mallow that resided within it. The stem was not wet, for the vase had no water. As she sat on her bed, she called for all communications in her room to be silenced, and then brought the rose towards her face.

Perhaps she should just keep the flag. There would be nothing good about dragging her troops down with memorabilia that only brought up feelings of pain. Besides, like Migas had said-

There was a crackling noise that came from the flower. A distorted, modified voice crackled through the room.

_“I’m back home and just put the kettle on. How are the kids?”_

Raquel smiled, but still maintained her cold, commanding voice as she leaned back on her hand and held the flower close to her lips.

“I have intelligence that says they’re just fine.”

_“Always with formalities, eh? Well, it can't be helped. How long until you think they find me?”_

“When the Union finds this blatant device? Six weeks. The kids though? They’ve always been a bit slow. I give them a year.”

_“Oh, why that long?”_ He quipped, and she frowned.

“Because,” she hissed, “we need to win this blasted war before I can even think about giving you visitation rights.”

_“I suppose that makes sense. However, if **you** were ever curious about swinging by, I have discovered this lovely blend of tea that uses hibiscus and…”_

-he was a dead man.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story! Part of what motivated me to finish it so quickly was that one of my friends and biggest readers, Tea, read through the entire story and left so many amazing comments that I felt I had to finish it for them. I'm very proud of this story, and I knew I was going to finish it eventually (I was actually surprised I forgot about it for a year? One day I was thinking "Hey which story of mine was it with that flower painting, because I really liked writing that detail" and then I realized "oh I never published it") so I hope others enjoyed it too. 
> 
> Also, I apologize if any of the Spanish in the fic has any grammar mistakes! I am not a native speaker and studied in high school. I have a seal of biliteracy in the language but have been out of practice for two years now so I did a lot of research to make sure I was writing it correctly and that the words I were choosing were correct for the cultures I was thinking of, but it's likely I missed something. I apologize for any mistakes.


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